Highly recognisable from her appearances on BBC1's 'Saturday Kitchen', wine expert Susy Atkins will be headlining the exciting line up of The Shops at Dartington's interactive workshops and demonstrations at their free Food Fair on Sunday 29th and Monday 30th May. Susy will be hosting a lively session showcasing the county's finest producers and sharing her knowledge on the region's best drinks including wines, ciders, ales and soft drinks. Make sure you pay a visit to 'Devon Drinks' between 12 noon and 1.00pm on the Sunday in the aptly named onsite drinks shop, 'Devon Drinks'.
In addition to Susy's educational tasting there's a varied selection of fascinating demonstrations with well-loved local food personalities taking place over the two days. The first day of the Food Fair, Sunday 29th, will see Devon Life Home Cook of the Year finalist 2014, Sue Stoneman teaching all how to make a mango and passionfruit roulade (11.00am – 11:45am). Sue will return on the Monday with her second demonstration, savoury choux puffs (11.00am – 11:45am).
Local food hero and head chef at the multi-award winning Millbrook Inn, JP will be wowing audiences with his crab creations. Between 12:15pm – 1.00pm on the Sunday, JP is set to demonstrate a tempting variety of crab dishes including crab bisque, crab salad and crab croquette. Continuing the crab theme, Devon's Favis of Salcombewho have over 40 years' experience in the fishing industry, will be educating and sharing their tips with the crowds on how to 'crack a crab'. If you're keen to learn the art of crab cracking, head on down to The Shops at Dartington on the Sunday for their masterclass between 1.30pm – 2.15pm.
On Monday, head chef at Exeter Golf and Country Club, Adam Little and his sous chef, Ben Corcutt, will be cooking up a seasonal three-course spring menu. Dishes the audience will learn how to recreate at home include asparagus, duck egg and hollandaise sauce followed by lamb rump, roast garlic, niçoise potatoes with a lamb jus. To finish, Adam and Ben will prepare a lemon posset with burnt pink grapefruit. Adam and Ben's demonstration takes place between 12.15pm – 1.00pm on the Monday.
Devon is of course synonymous with the Cream Tea. No food fair would be complete without The Devon Scone Company's highly acclaimed Richard Hunt sharing his experiences of how to create 'The Perfect Devon Cream Tea'. Cream then jam, always! Richard's demonstration takes place on the Monday, 1.30pm - 2.15pm.
Matteo Lamaro, from The Curator Café, in Totnes is a new face to this year's Food Fair. Matteo, who is from Ancona in Italy will be treating crowds to tips and recipes to create at home the 'Perfect Pasta with Every Dish'. Matteo is demonstrating his culinary flair on the Monday between 2.45pm – 3.30pm.
Food Fair favourite, Mal Harradine, a regular on Ideal World is returning to The Shops at Dartington. Mal will be sharing his passion for pasta making with his workshop 'Pasta Making Made Easy' on the Sunday at 4.00pm – 4.45pm.
Exeter Cookery School's Jim Fisher completes the line up with his two 'Fun with Spun Sugar Structures' workshops on Sunday at 2.45pm – 3.30pm and Monday at 4.00pm – 4.45pm. Jim will be educating audiences how to produce sensational caramel and spun sugar shapes such as baskets, springs and tuiles.
Celebrating the very best of Devon, and held in association with Food & Drink Devon, there'll also be the county's finest food and drink producers at the Food Fair. Just some of the producers exhibiting over the two days include, Almond Thief Bakery, Bell & Loxton, Clare's Preserves, Dartington Dairy, Devon Distillery, Hunter's Brewery, Blueberry Bros and Voyager Coffee.
The Shops at Dartington is owned by the Dartington Hall Trust, an independent charitable organisation, trading ethically and sustainably as a social enterprise in order to help support the Trust's activities in Social Justice, Sustainability and the Arts.
